Motorsport Inovations

[Mactech]

Whilst motorsport has given me the opportunity to be paid to enjoy my hobby for most of my life, 'public service' as not been it's greatest accolade.

Why supermarket chiller aisles may soon not be so chilly

My wife thinks this a great improvement on 'just going round in circles'!

 

[Londonscottish]

Very cool. Or not, as the case may be.

A mate of mine has just gone to work at Williams and he's been pumping out loads of stories recently about how various aspects of Williams tech are crossing over to the mainstream.

Good branding/awareness raising on their part.

 

[GeeJayW]

Saw an exhibition in the Science Museum a few years ago that showed how technologies from F1 (McLaren) had enabled progress in seemingly unrelated areas. A stand out example for me, was the use of F1 materials and manufacturing techniques being used to make better prosthetic limbs.

 

[st13phil]

Saw an exhibition in the Science Museum a few years ago that showed how technologies from F1 (McLaren) had enabled progress in seemingly unrelated areas. A stand out example for me, was the use of F1 materials and manufacturing techniques being used to make better prosthetic limbs.

I seem to remember that the teamworking techniques developed by McLaren to speed up F1 wheel changes have been successfully deployed to operating theatres engaged in emergency surgery.

 

[Mactech]

Yes, there are certain things which push the advance of technology faster. War and the space race spring to mind....
Motorsport has the advantage of being far less regulated than perhaps the aviation industry, so innovation can filter into the mainstream much more quickly.
It has been quietly pushing boundaries for decades now.

 

[moonloops]

Honda F1 have pioneered the use of engines as boat anchors

 

[Mactech]

Honda F1 have pioneered the use of engines as boat anchors

...and won the triple crown in Moto GP. I know it is fashionable to write Honda off in F1 at the moment but they have been known to build quick and reliable cars as well.I suspect they will return to winning ways.

 

[grober]

Is Flybrid still on the go?
Success story: F1 technology finds a way into buses and diggers - Case study - GOV.UK

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[Londonscottish]

Yes, there are certain things which push the advance of technology faster. War and the space race spring to mind....

There is a very strong correlation between the % of GDP spent on defence and the size of any given nations's IT sector. A stat which I discovered when working with some Israeli companies on early video logging technologies in the mid-90's. They were extremely good at it and I figured out why once I discovered that stat.

 

[Mactech]

Yes, I worked with the Dyson team in the States in 2014 introducing Bentley's GT3 car.
To give you an idea of the technical level involved, their Data Engineer is an astrophysicist. He is used to sifting though terabytes of data in his investigations into dark matter....
The 'tiny' Gigabytes churned out by the race cars are just child's play

 

[Londonscottish]

Yes, I worked with the Dyson team in the States in 2014 introducing Bentley's GT3 car.
To give you an idea of the technical level involved, their Data Engineer is an astrophysicist. He is used to sifting though terabytes of data in his investigations into dark matter....
The 'tiny' Gigabytes churned out by the race cars are just child's play

In my last company all the clever techs had at least a maths PHD. That seemed to be about the entry point to work on credit risk systems in retail banks. To do market risk in inverstmant banks, however, it was more often something to do with physics or thermodynamics.

I often felt like a spare part once they started debating some esoteric data modelling scenario.

 

[Ted]

Ah yes. Motorsport brought us downforce

 

[Mactech]

Beep Beep .....maybe...but on that particular car I doubt and downforce the big wing produced even negated the inherent lift

 

[Darrell]

Ah yes. Motorsport brought us downforce

I’ve a relative who has a Roadrunner.

 

[artyman]

Probably a device to help find the car in a crowded car park!

 

[WDB124066]

Richard Petty had a interview on the youtube explaining the No 43 Superbird aero, it works alright and it was there to balance what they did to the front from memory - or maybe the other way round.

Got it @ 4:00 mins.....

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[WDB124066]

There is a reason why they are all up the front and it isn't just because of the mighty Hemi...

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[Mactech]

Cool vid
Yes, these wings and primitive front splitters brought some stability to the old stock cars.
Almost all road cars have lift as they are mainly flat on the underside and curved over the top surface...which makes a very 'rude' wing.
Most of the early wing devices just reduced the amounts of lift on the car rather than making positive downforce as I found out the hard way working with the 90's Super Touring cars.
Downforce on the banked ovals was a double edged sword. Tyres could be easily over whelmed by the loads on the banking and additional downforce....as I found out testing IMSA cars at Daytona in the 80's.....

 

[WDB124066]

Yes, is this why Mercs in the 90's at least had the front lower than the rear...

 

[Mactech]

Yes, is this why Mercs in the 90's at least had the front lower than the rear...

Possibly. Rake is a powerful tool to move the centre of pressure about on low to the ground and smooth underbodied race cars.
Given the very 'dirty' underside of 90's road cars the results would be less predictable, but if it reduced front lift then that could have been a consideration.